The present invention utilizes certain features of and is an improvement in movable bin sorters of the type disclosed in the following prior patents:
Lawrence U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,463
Du Bois and Hamma U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,963
In my above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,463, movable bin sheet sorting machines are disclosed which are of compact construction. A moving bin structure is employed wherein the ends of the sorting bins or trays adjacent to the sheet entry location are shifted past the sheet entry by spiral cams which engage trunnions at opposite sides of the bins. At their other ends, the bins are pivotally supported so that as each successive bin is moved, a space between bins is provided which diminishes or converges toward the outer end remote from the sheet entry. When a large number of bins is employed, say twenty bins, the angle of the bins can be maintained at a satisfactory incline by shifting the outer pivoted ends of the bins as the inner ends are being shifted, as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,936, but the angle does change and the space to receive sheets is convergent.
Such sorters have substantial frame structure at the outer ends of the bins forming the support for the bins and containing the shifting means for the outer ends of the bins. Such frame structure inherently encloses the bins at their outer ends so that sets of sheets must be removed laterally from between bins. In the Du Bois and Hamma application identified above, the bins are supported at their outer ends on a lower support and pivotally on one another, so that the sorted sets can be removed either laterally or endwise. However, the bin portions which pivotally engage at the outer ends of the bins pose an obstacle to larger size sheets, and the bin angle changes so that when larger numbers of bins are used, shifting of the outer ends of the bins as the outer ends move to maintain an acceptable angle is desirable, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,461 of Du Bois and Hamma.